Half-Egyptian and half-Indian, Natalie lives in the Wiltshire town of Marlborough in a Grade II listed cottage, which is surrounded by her rose garden. Her influences include old Disney flicks, Roald Dahl, Quentin Blake, The Moomins and Joan de Bethel sculpted cats.
Natalie did her foundation course at Chelsea College of Art and Design, and followed it up with a BA in Visual Communication Design Illustration at Middlesex University.
Approach
Natalie’s motto is ‘live to draw’ and she believes that an artist should develop their craft every day. When she’s working on a picture book, she plans the layout using thumbnails, then works on full-size pencil sketches, which she transfers to watercolour paper where she applies watercolour paints, gouache and coloured pencils. The artwork is scanned in, with some shading and tweaking done using the application Gimp.Style
Natalie’s style is simple and contemporary. There’s a hint of whimsy and a sense of contentedness in many of her images. When it comes to characters she aims to give them a sweet look, but avoids being overtly cute.